Conventional communication cables, which typically transmit digital information, employ a plurality of twisted wire pairs. To satisfy high speed digital requirements, the communication cables must transmit communication at high frequencies, typically to 500 Mhz. However with high frequencies, interference or near end crosstalk occurs due to electromagnetic coupling between the twisted pairs within the cable. Such interference degrades the performance of the cable.
To reduce such interference and improve performance, the twisted pairs of the communication cable are often twisted with very short lay lengths and/or a filler is added to physically increase the distance between the pairs. Conventional communication cable fillers are very thick and often have a uniform shape to provide the necessary distance between the pairs to reduce interference. Alternatively, the twisted pairs of conventional communication cables are individually shielded from one another. All of these options, however, are costly, and often do not provide optimum flame performance and dielectric properties.